3.2 The principalship: manager to leader  (Page 5/3)

Bureaucratic manager

Schools have traditionally been managed by a bureaucratic management style principal. In this method principals rely on a rational set of structuring guidelines, such as rules and procedures, hierarchy, and a clear division of labor (Allen 1998). Principals using this style receive lots of credit for an efficiently run school. Over time this style of management eventually backfires as creative teachers and students become unsettled. These types of principals tend to be control freaks who find it difficult to let go of the detail and are particularly threatened by the idea of empowering other leaders for fear of diminishing their own power base. These principals soon forget that schools exist for students and not for administrators (Prideaux, 2001). As new decision making models emerge with research backingtheir success, the role of the principal begins to change.

Changing from manager to leader

Principals are no longer strictly managers; they are expected to be leaders. Leaders that can take their school to a higher level of academic achievement, where all students are successful learners and all teachers engage their students in learning. To become such a leader, principals need to leave behind their bureaucratic management styles and redefine themselves as a moral leader. Principals that are leaders not just managers will be able to move their school forward. These new principals allow teachers to be leaders in developing better curriculums to reach the needs of all students. For a principal tomaintain this type of leadership, he will need to learn how to serve his staff not just manage it.

Principals are beginning to value the important role that teachers play in the success of their school. Recognizing their value, principals are beginning to work with teachers to achieve goals that will contribute to the schools success. Principals are looking for a leadership style that welcomes the cooperation of others and values their input. One such leadership style is that of a servant leader. In servant leadershipone serves the needs of their staff (Sergiovanni, 2000). By serving one's staff instead of serving one's own needs, a principal is able to create change within the school. Principals can practice servantleadership in the three ways that Sergiovanni (2000) describes: purposing, empowerment, and leadership by outrage.

Purposing

In purposing it is the principal's responsibility to develop a set of core values that serves the school and present these values to theschool (Sergiovanni, 2000). The principal receives input from other staff members so that everyone shares in the development of thesevalues. Principals can receive input from staff members by meeting with them in a variety of ways: as departments, as individuals, andas a whole. In these meetings, principals should work to establish dialogue, stressing the point that we are in this together andtheir opinions are valued. In these meetings the principal and staff can address the problems of the school that need immediateattention, identify ways of improving the school, and ways to head off future problems. Ultimately the goal will be to create a set ofcore values to serve as their purpose. When developing these values do not forget to incorporate academics, moral and character values,history, tradition, and the community. By establishing the purpose for the school, standards are being set to help guide theschool's vision. Equally as important as setting the purpose for the school, the principal is creating acollaborative group that will be a valuable part of school decision making.